1982 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 1982 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Mountaineers' 90th overall season and they competed as a Division I-A Independent. The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen, in his third year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of nine wins and three losses (9–3 overall) and with a loss against Florida State in the Gator Bowl.

1982 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Gator Bowl, L 12–31 vs. Florida State
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
AP	No. 19
1982 record	9–3
Head coach	Don Nehlen (3rd season)
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field (Capacity: 50,000)

1982 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Penn State		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
No. 13 Florida State		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
No. 10 Pittsburgh		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
No. 19 West Virginia		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Boston College		–		–				8	–	3	–	1
Southwestern Louisiana		–		–				7	–	3	–	1
East Carolina		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Miami		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–				6	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Navy		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Louisville		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Army		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Temple		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Tulane		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 11	at No. 9 Oklahoma		Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, Oklahoma		W 41–27	75,008
September 18	Maryland	No. 17	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (rivalry)		W 19–18	56,042
September 25	Richmond	No. 15	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia		W 43–10	48,461
October 2	at No. 2 Pittsburgh	No. 14	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh (Backyard Brawl)	ABC	L 13–16	57,250
October 9	No. 19 Boston College	No. 16	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia		W 20–13	55,554
October 16	at Virginia Tech	No. 13	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, Virginia (Black Diamond Trophy)		W 16–6	52,300
October 23	No. 9 Penn State	No. 13	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (rivalry)		L 0–24	60,958
October 30	East Carolina	No. 18	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia		W 30–3	50,616
November 6	at Temple	No. 17	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia		W 20–17	28,968
November 11	at Rutgers	No. 19	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, New Jersey	WTBS	W 44–17	27,132
November 20	Syracuse	No. 16	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy)		W 26–0	48,456
December 30	vs. Florida State	No. 10	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, Florida (Gator Bowl)	ABC	L 12–31	80,913
Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game

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• Reference:[1]

Roster

1982 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 15 Jeff Hostetler Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 90 Darryl Talley Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 11 Stephen Superick Fr	Head coach Don Nehlen Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Season recap

Jeff Hostetler was the starting quarterback for the Mountaineers. He led the team with 1916 passing yards and 10 touchdowns. Leading the team in rushing was Curlin Beck with 357 net yards. Darrell Miller led the team in receiving with 34 receptions for 565 yards.

The first game featured the Mountaineers against perennial powerhouse Oklahoma. Despite being a two touchdown plus underdog, the Mountaineers played a great game to upset the Sooners in Norman, 41–27. That was followed up with a 19–18 home victory over rival Mayland. The third game against Richmond, was a blowout, in which the Mountaineers won 43–10.

Their first loss of the season came to their hated rival, Pittsburgh, in the Backyard Brawl, by a score of 16–13. In the brawl, fans were introduced to All-American linebacker Darryl Talley. He intercepted a Dan Marino pass and blocked a punt for a safety in West Virginia's 16–13 loss to the No. 2-rated Panthers. The 1982 game was one of just five times that both teams were nationally ranked: Pitt was rated No. 2 and West Virginia was 14th after upset wins over Oklahoma and Maryland.[2]

The Mountaineers rebounded with a hard fought 20–13 slugfest over Boston College, and quarterback Doug Flutie. WVU traveled to Blacksburg to take on rival Virginia Tech, in a game the Mountaineers won 16–6.

The next week, the Mountaineers hosted the number 1 team in the Nation, the Penn State Nittany Lions at home. WVU's offense never got rolling against the vaunted defense of Penn State, who pitched a 24–0 shutout. WVU rebounded once again with a blowout of its own against East Carolina, 30–3. The Mountaineers traveled to Philadelphia to take on Temple. The Owls lost 20–17.

West Virginia closed out the season with dominating wins over Rutgers, and Syracuse. That gave them a 9–2 record, a number 10 national ranking, and a trip to the Gator Bowl to take on Florida State.

Awards and honors

• Darryl Talley, All-America selection

References

1. "WVU 1982 Schedule". The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original on 2012-02-09. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
2. no longer valid link